July 2010 Archives

Since my last post about the Dominator NX650 based dirtbike, I just can’t get my head around Short Track bikes. I know it’s not a scoop, but the Italian Zaeta company jumped really in the middle of the Short Track business. The bike they realized belongs to the father of Valentino, Graziano Rossi, big fan of drifting.
The engine is a 450cc Yamaha bored over to 480cc by Yamaha Rinaldi Racing, mounted on a J&M Short Track specific frame.
Compact and lightweight, 101 kilograms for 70 HP, pure fun.
Thanks for the dream guys.

Andrew Greenland bought his 1992 Honda Dominator NX650 for £300, with the intention of just restoring it as a winter project.
“I thought I would maybe change a few bits and bobs,” he says. “One night, when the bike was stripped down to the rolling chassis, I placed a Honda CG125 (1976) tank on it for a laugh-and that was it! Retro dirtbike was the theme.”
Greenland cut the rear subframe uprights down by three inches and added a loop at the back, leaving the rest of the structure original. He rebuilt the motor with a bigger bore and piston and new valves and guides, and swapped out the stock 21” front wheel for a 19” Honda SLR650 wheel. The exhaust system came from Jemco in Texas, with Trail Tech supplying the headlight and speedometer. Greenland then built a new tail unit using fiberglass and did all the painting himself with rattle tins. The project took six months, and the bike rolled out of the shed a few days ago-owing Greenland less than £2,000 in total build costs. “I’ve been tinkering with my own bikes since I was 12,” says Greenland, “but I’ve never altered a bike from its original form before and it was a pain in the ass! But when I go out on it, and see the looks it gets, it makes it all worth it.” Home building at its best, don’t you think?

Classic. Beautiful. Desirable. These are the words to describe the Vincent Black Lightning motorcycle prodiced by the British manufacturer Vincent Motorcycles, a firm that lived 27 years from 1928 till 1955. They had the world’s fastest production motorcycle in 1948 with the launch of the Black Shadow. The Black Lightning is one rare motorcycle nowadays, and Jeff Decker, a Bronze Artist is a proud owner of one customized Black Lightning.

Jeff says: “The bike is based on a HVG (Harris Vincent Gallery) Chassis. Herb set me up with all the juiciest left overs he had from Rollie Free & Marty Dickerson. I took a perfectly built motor with all the rarest goodies, spine, ‘48 forks & tail section & spent a few hundreds of hours more with my uncle Curtis creating/ finishing/customizing this bike.”